Back-Log

Jun 9 E3: Top Five Hopes/Wishes

E3 kicks off now, but before I get into obsessing over the live tweets and streams, I figured I’d share a quick little top 5 for the Pixel Rated crowd. As a gamer, E3 is THE definitive conference to show off what’s coming next in the video game world. Here’s hoping that someday I can attend as press, but until then I’ll report news from my little bubble here in Seattle. But anyway! Here are my top 5 hopes for E3 2014.

inFAMOUS: Second Son DLC: With the PS4 launch in full swing, one of my favorite games this year has to be Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS: Second Son. We reviewed it for the site and I loved the character so much I even cosplayed as the game’s protagonist, Delsin Rowe. I can wax philosophical about what I hope the DLC will be, it could be a stand alone experience similar to the excellent DLC pack for inFAMOUS 2: Festival of Blood or it could continue the story a bit and have Delsin follow through with his promise to free the conduits at Curdun Cay. Either way, I figured I’d start this list off with one of my top choices; especially with how short the overall campaign for inFAMOUS: Second Son was, I just want more! While I know that we can expect DLC for this game, I’m hoping it’s meaty.

Next Mass Effect: Shepard’s story is done, I’m fine with that. While like many who experienced this massive space-opera trilogy, I was a bit disappointed by the way BioWare ended the trilogy. But with a new chapter in the Mass Effect-verse coming, I’m curious about what it will be. Will it stay in a similar vein of the previous three entries in the series? Or will BioWare try to build a new experience by bringing us something completely new in the Mass Effect universe? Any details would be greatly appreciated. They’ve slowly peppered concept art over the last year or so on Twitter, but nothing has been concrete. I’m hoping they show us something, at least give us a bit of information about where this next saga is going? I may be alone in this opinion, but I hope they leave Shepard’s story in last gen, it’s a new console generation and to me it feels like the perfect chance to put someone new in the limelight of such a beloved series.

Uncharted 4: Or whatever they are going to call it. After the much publicized departure of Writer/Creative Director Amy Hennig, and then followed by Game Director Justin Richmond leaving Naughty Dog, development for the next Uncharted game began to look bleak. After that teaser for a teaser for a teaser trailer, could Naughty Dog be looking to go a different direction with Uncharted 4? While I know the franchise was Hennig’s baby, personally I feel that if a different team tries to pick up the pieces and put what was broken back together, we’ll get a shoddy version of what was Hennig’s vision for the game. I’m hoping that they will at least address some of the concerns for the development of this title, and while it may be stretching bit… I’m hoping that they will reveal their plans for this post Hennig/Richmond take on Drake’s adventures.

Oculus… Morpheus… The red pill or the blue pill: VR is coming, after trying out the Oculus at PAX PRIME 2013 and the subsequent announcement of Sony stepping into the VR head space, I’m hoping we can get more details on the tech, ideally a price. For these to be successful, they will have to gamble on the software being robust enough to warrant the price of the hardware, I’m certain that both Facebook (who bought Oculus not too long ago) and Sony will be marketing this hardware at a loss, in the hopes of making it up in software. While I see it as a slippery slope for Facebook, Sony with their dedicate user base and an already impressive install base of PlayStation 4 consoles seems to have the upper hand. But what about the BONE? Does Microsoft intend to step into VR or would they just license Oculus? Microsoft has been all over the news as of late, much of the news was bad with the company continuing to flip-flop on policies involving their console, with the recent removal of Kinect from the bundle and $100 price drop… it’s basically just a PS4 now.

The Last Guardian: How many E3’s have we had without a single peep of The Last Guardian? Originally slated to come out for the PS3, the game’s development has been tumultuous. Details are slim and very few have ever seen the game actually running. While Sony and Team Ico have adamantly insisted that the game has not been cancelled, after years of being stuck in development purgatory, can we really still hold on to hope for this? I’m a huge fan of Ico and Shadows of the Colossus, a part of me is hoping that I can take Sony at their word. But if ANOTHER E3 passes without a single morsel of new information, I may have to just close off my expectations and just await the eventual cancellation notice.

Overall, these are just my wishes… and I plan to write a full article later to see if any of these wishes were fulfilled upon. But one thing we can all agree on is that next gen is in full swing… let’s show the world what’s next. #StayFrostyandGetLifted